Treestamp

I’m sure that a lot of you have seen how successful recent campaigns for Cancer Awareness have been on social media (selfies on Facebook etc), and that has really made me want to do some fundraising of my own for a charity that is also very deserving, but slightly less well known: The CF Trust. 

The CF Trust works with sufferers of Cystic Fibrosis, a life-shortening disease that affects over 10,000 people in the UK. Symptoms can vary in severity, but involve thick mucus in the lungs and digestive system. This can make sufferers much more likely to develop infections or inflammations, make digestion of food much harder, increase risks of diabetes, and cause other health concerns. These symptoms also affect other areas of a sufferer’s life; and while focusing on research into treatments and working towards a cure, The CF Trust aims to help sufferers maintain the greatest quality of life they can. Despite all of the great work that the charity are doing, and the extension of life expectancy that they’ve helped achieve, only about half of Cystic Fibrosis sufferers live to 40.

I want to do as much as I can to help raise money and further their great work, so I’m going to be shaving my head. As I’m a student with not a huge amount of money, I think that this is a cheap option that will nevertheless hopefully be drastic enough to inspire some donations! I know that my hair isn’t hugely long, but it really is a big part of who I am and how I express myself. I hope that a lot of people agree that going bald is a bit of a scary process, but I’m  determined that this is something I want to do if it will even help a little bit. 

The reason this charity is so close to my heart is because my best friend has CF, and she is an utterly fantastic person to know. I won’t say that she’s a ‘sufferer’, because there is so much more to her than that and it would be insulting to suggest otherwise. I’m so grateful to have such a strong, caring, ridiculous friend around who brightens everyone’s day without even trying, and I can never thank her enough for being my person. Hopefully this will be a start.

I know that a lot of us don’t have a lot of money to spare at the moment, so I’m sorry to be asking you for donations. But even something small like £1/£5 would be great, if you could spare it! You can either donate online at my JustGiving page, or by text message. If you’d like to donate by phone, text CFEM55 and either £10 or an amount between £1-5 to 70070. Thank you all so much. :)

Other information about physical CF symptoms can be found at:http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cystic-fibrosis/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

And more information about the charity can be found at: http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/

Hello, I’m TJ Kirk. I hope that you will join me in supporting The International Women’s Health Coalition, whose goals are to provide sexual education, reproductive rights, and educational opportunities women and girls in places like Africa, India, The Middle East and Asia. They strive to help girls in these regions by:

Advancing the rights of adolescent girls

Promoting comprehensive sexual education

Ending child marriages and forced marriages

Ensuring safe and legal abortions

The IWHC accomplishes these goals by working with governments and global health policymakers as well as funding educational programs and grassroots political movements. They are bringing true feminism to woman and girls who suffer actual oppression and inequality. Their organization has received a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator, a service that rates charities based on the financial health of the charity and the transparency and accountability of the charity. The IWHC received a rating of 90 out of 100 for financial health and 100 out of 100 for transparency and accountability. To learn more about the IWHC you can check out their website here: https://iwhc.org